A very pleasant evening....

NigelM

Well-Known Member
I had a good go at the cull plan from February to May and got most of it done, just leaving myself a few bucks for the rut. Having had a bit on at work since I have not been back, but decided to take the afternoon out today to have a mooch about and spend the evening in my favourite seat.

A spot of rain mid afternoon, no harvesting done yet and more cover than I have ever seen there put paid to the mooch about. Didn't see a thing. Went for a cup of tea with the keeper at tea time, had a good chat about his pheasants which were delivered yesterday, and went and settled in the chair at about 1800. Far too early, but I fancied watching the world go by.

At about 1900 a little Muntjac doe made the mistake of wandering across the end of one of the rides in front of me. Not a shot I would be proud of, a tad high, but she went down and didn't get up. I left her where she lay. It was 150 yards away and I didn't want to disturb the wood any more than I had already. Hoping for a Buck to make the same mistake.

The chair is great. It's 4.5 meters up so even when the cover is deep you can see most things moving about, and at that hight it's always a pretty safe shot. In front of it is a split in the ride and you can clearly see down both highways for about 150 yds - the rides are about 15 yards wide. The ride then goes behind the seat and continues another 150 yards. I have thought about fitting wing mirrors on the chair as I think I would see more than I do trying to turn round every minute as I do at the moment.

At about 1930 a buck walked out behind the chair, just 10 yards away. The dog didn't move a muscle, but was spotted and the buck was on his toes before I had a chance to turn around properly. He was a little 4 pointer. Not on todays list as I have already shot my planned quota of young ones. I was after something a bit bigger today.

At 2015 something made me turn around again. Another buck, 50 yards behind me. He looked perfect. The dog had already spotted him but wasn't moving and I slowly turned around, confirmed he was a mature beast, put the cross hairs on his neck and squeezed. Instantly down.

Off the chair, sorted the Muntie first as it had been there a while and then went back to look at my buck. He had the biggest head I had ever seen on the estate. Good length, girth and pearling. A stunning looking chap. Never seen him before, not sure where he came from, but very happy he decided to come to the party.

Definitely worth a proper mount, so boiling on Saturday!
 
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